Canadian Pacific Women’s Open
Vancouver Golf Club
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
First Round Notes
August 20, 2015
Karine Icher shot a bogey-free 65 on Thursday to take a two-shot lead after the first round of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
“My putting was very good, and I think today I’ve seen the hole bigger than the other days,” Icher said. “So sometimes you have days like that where everything works, so I’m quite happy with this one.”
Icher’s round was keyed by a stretch of six birdies in seven holes from hole 5-11 to move her from 1-under to 7-under.
“When you make some birdies like that in a row, you have more and more confidence and build some confidence through the round,” Icher explained. “Then it’s good for the tournament, for the season, for everything. I mean, it’s always nice to have some rounds like that where you don’t have so much questions. You know the club, you take the club, you hit the shot, and it’s close to the pin.”
Chasing Icher down will be Lydia Ko, who sits two back after an opening round 67, and a group of four players - Danah Bordner, I.K. Kim, Stacy Lewis and Pernilla Lindberg - who are all at 4-under-par.
BIRDIES FOR HEART RAISES $65,000 ON DAY ONE OF CP WOMEN’S OPEN
One of the unique parts of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open is the Birdies for Heart initiative. On Thursday, 13 birdies were made on the par-4 17th raising $65,000 for the pediatric cardiology research program at BC Children’s Hospital.
After a successful 2014, CP has once again committed to donating $5,000 for every birdie made on the 17th hole at Vancouver Golf Club during CP Women’s Open LPGA tournament play and $2,500 for each birdie made during the pro-am on Wednesday. In 2014, Birdies for Heart raised more than $320,000 for charity during tournament week.
KO IN CONTENTION AGAIN IN CANADA
Lydia Ko birdied the final two holes of her opening round to shoot a 5-under 67 to sit two behind the lead at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
“Yeah, hopefully that will give me good momentum tomorrow,” Ko said of her strong finish. “But playing in the morning and then afternoon tomorrow there is quite a bit of wait, but I’ve just got to keep the positive attitude going. Hit one shot at a time and just have fun out there.”
Three years ago, Ko burst onto the scene at Vancouver Golf Club becoming the youngest winner in LPGA history at a mere 15 years, 4 months and 2 days in just her third LPGA event.
“I think the biggest difference is me. I don’t have the glasses, and I feel much older,” Ko said with a smile. “But it’s great to come back to a course where you’ve played well and the spectators have been great and they’ve been supporting me today, even in the practice rounds. It’s definitely a great where you feel really welcome.”
Ko has always felt welcome in Canada and admitted that her and her family nearly moved to area when she was younger.
“I just always feel very welcomed when I come to Canada,” Ko said with a smile. “I feel Canada is quite like New Zealand, so I love coming back here. When I was younger we nearly moved here.”
FAMILY AFFAIR FOR DANAH BORDNER
For Danah Bordner, professional golf may be her career choice but it’s her title as mom that brings the biggest smile to her face. The fact that she can be a role model to her two daughters as a working mom who is pursuing her dream is something that drives the 34-year-old every day. And it’s why there is still a fire that burns inside of her to compete and what makes days like Thursday even more special as she sits three back of the lead after shooting an opening round 68.
“I think just it’s been a long year as probably a lot of people know,” Bordner admitted. “But there is a lot of golf left out there and knowing that I kind of found a few pieces at the beginning of this week and talked to my husband on the phone about some things. Really just staying patient. I feel like I have all year, but fairways, greens, putts I’ve been sticking to the same routine, but maybe it kind of clicked today.”
Bordner’s husband, Steve, is head pro at Irondeqouit Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., and they use the Tango app for video range sessions on the road.
“He is my coach now officially. We kind of went to that. I kind of joked that he’s a lot cheaper than a lot of other coaches because I can just cook for him, so he’s a lot cheaper. But with Facetime and Tango and technology these days, it’s fantastic, so we’re able to do that and stay on top of things.”
While Steve is back home, Bordner is being joined in Vancouver by her two girls, Taylor (2) and Reagan (1).
“My two girls are here this week, and I love having them out,” Bordner said with a smile. “They’re out with me probably 75% of the time. I feel bad I’m taking them away from their daddy, but it’s awesome. I come home and they’re there, and it’s unconditional love. It doesn’t matter how you play. It doesn’t matter anything. When you’re a mom, it’s the best thing in the world, and I’m just happy to be doing what I’m doing and out here with the support of them and my family and Smucker’s, of course, with the LPGA Child Care. I can’t do it without them, so it’s great to have them with me.”
STACY LEWIS LOOKING FOR WIN NO. 1 OF 2015
Rolex Rankings No. 3 Stacy Lewis is in the mix at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open following an opening round 68.
“I don’t know if it’s the golf course necessarily, but I just played better than I’ve been playing lately,” Lewis said. “Things just seemed to click a little better today. I actually switched golf balls yesterday, so just tried a new golf ball today, and it was a lot better. I was able to free it up a little more.”
The new ball, a Bridgestone B330-S, paid off for Lewis who hit 16-of-18 greens and made five birdies against a lone bogey.
“I noticed a difference around the greens,” Lewis explained. “It was a lot better today and actually picked up some distance off the tee back to where I was hitting it last year. So good so far, I guess.”
One of the most consistent players on Tour, Lewis has nine top-10 finishes in 2015 but is still looking for her first win.
“I’m in a position money list-wise and everything that my standards it’s not been a good year, but I have an opportunity to still make it a good year,” Lewis admitted.
SOLHEIM CUP COMING DOWN TO THE WIRE
While U.S. Solheim Cup captain Juli Inkster is weighing her two captain’s picks this week, European Solheim Cup captain Carin Koch has the difficult task of making four captain’s picks when her squad is announced on Tuesday morning.
There are a number of players in the field this week at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open trying to make a strong impression on Koch including two of the current leaders, Karine Icher and Pernilla Lindberg.
Icher, who currently sits just a couple spots outside of making the team on Rolex Rankings points, is in sole possession of the lead in Vancouver. Icher is a two-time member of the European Solheim Cup Team including in 2013 when she posted a 2-1-1 record and came up with some clutch putts to earn critical points for Europe as they clinched the Cup in back-to-back events for the first time in history.
“It’s such a good experience,” Icher said witrh a smile. “You have a lot of pressure and you want to play just not for yourself but for your teammate, and it means a lot. I mean, I would be super proud to be on the team. It means like you have to give the best of you, everything you have. I mean, it’s a good experience to win it, of course, obviously it’s fantastic. But you learn a lot during the Solheim Cup because it’s extreme conditions, like the course is difficult, the pressure is a lot. It’s huge. So it’s a good test of golf to see where you are under pressure.”
Lindberg knows that she likely will need to be one of Koch’s four captain’s picks in order to have a chance to compete in her first Solheim Cup. Last summer, Lindberg was a critical piece of Team Sweden that finished runner-up at the International Crown and she’s hoping that she gets an opportunity to show off her match-play skills this time for Team Europe.
“Of course it’s something that comes up on everyone’s mind,” Lindberg said of the Solheim Cup team selections being next week. “But as soon as it does, I try not to really think about it because I just want to go out and play as good as I can because I’d really like to be on that team. But at this point for me it’s really going to have to come down to a pick, and I can’t do anything else than just go out and try to play and see what happens.”
The 2015 Solheim Cup will be held at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in Germany September 18th -20th.
Below is a breakdown of when players will be announced to their respective teams.
European Team
August 9: First four players confirmed from LET points list following the conclusion of the Tipsport Golf Masters in the Czech Republic.
August 24: Next four players confirmed from the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
August 25: Captain Carin Koch announces her four captains’ picks live on the Sky Sports Sportswomen TV show, from 11.30am-12.00pm BST.
United States Team
August 24: Captain Juli Inkster will announce her team, including the 10 qualifiers and her two captains’ picks, during a one hour Golf Central special on Golf Channel from 7-8 p.m. EST (12am-1am BST) live from Golf Channel’s Orlando studios.
)
)
)
)
